For Belgium (Flanders), the confidence index increased slightly due to most sectors being stable. However, cost increases, energy supply and declining consumer confidence led to a negative mood in the horticulture sector. Additionally, the hot and dry weather conditions have been particularly problematic for the fruit sector and the dairy and beef cattle sectors.
For France, 27% of farmers believe that the current economic situation of their farms is poor; a proportion that has fallen by 5% since March 2022, whilst the projection of their farms economic projection remains pessimistic and continues to decrease.
The confidence index for Germany deteriorated significantly during Autumn 2022 due to the Ukraine crisis, fertiliser and energy prices and high interest rates on borrowed capital. However, the strong increase in investment intentions in renewable energy contrast with the overall picture. German farmer’s willingness to invest is on the rise as well as producer prices for milk, cattle and pigs which have gotten better.
For Hungary, the degree of optimism decreased considerably and thus kept the sentiment on the economic situations of farms on the negative spectrum for the next 2-3 years also. This decrease in confidence is derived from bad weather conditions, financial barriers, utility and labour costs and an increase in agri-bashing.
Concerns about rising costs continue to undermine the confidence of Italian farmers compared to a year ago, farmers are more pessimistic about both current and future business (in a 2–3-year horizon). The sectors most critical of the production situation are the livestock and wood operating ones.
For the Netherlands, the confidence that farmers and horticulturalists have in their businesses has fallen slightly as opposed to dairy and poultry farmers whose confidence index has improved.
Finally, Swedish farmers’ confidence had been steadily decreasing up until the 3rd quarter of 2022 due to an increase in fuel and fertiliser costs in the crops sector and feed prices in the livestock sector, however the sentiment has now began increasing to become more positive and confident due to farmers’ incomes being raised.
Compared to spring 2022, the percentage of farmers not experiencing any problems decreased while more farmers experienced difficulties with running their farm. The issues most encountered by farmers were agricultural products agricultural products price decreases, increased prices in utility costs and weather conditions.
Download the EU Farmers’ Confidence Survey HERE.
Download the high-resolution visuals linked to the Press Release HERE.
